Scouting for Political Talent: Who Will Be the 2010 Stars?

By

Peter Brown

Oct 6, 2010 7:00 am ET

Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, is a former White House correspondent with two decades of experience covering Washington government and politics. Click here for Mr. Brown’s full bio.

Politics, like business and athletics, has a thriving futures market.

In football and basketball, for instance, professional scouts and fanatic fans evaluate high school and college players for their abilities to compete at the next level, and eventually whether they can play in the National Football League or the National Basketball Association.

In the futures pits at numerous financial exchanges, traders swap contracts on the predicted value of everything from pork bellies to petroleum.

As voters go to the polls this November to elect a new House of Representatives, a third of the U.S. Senate and most of the nation’s governors, they will also be elevating new faces that will inevitably become the next generation of presidential and vice presidential wannabes.

Here’s a scorecard with some names that – if they win their current attempts for office – could wind up on a list of national candidates.

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